


Night Before Christmas

by GabesBeanie



Series: Merry Christmas, Darlin' [24]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: 25 Days of Christmas, Family Feels, Fluff, M/M, christmas in march anyone??, feel good, night before christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-04-04 23:13:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14030934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GabesBeanie/pseuds/GabesBeanie
Summary: 24/25 Days of Christmas || Night Before ChristmasHanzo spends a day with Jesse and the fam. And there's fried chicken.





	Night Before Christmas

Jesse blinked his eyes open slowly, the soft darkness of the room confusing him for a moment before he realized where he was. Next to him, Hanzo breathed softly, still in the grasp of deep sleep. He was on his back, hair loose from its tie and strewn about the pillow, his head tilted towards Jesse in sleep.

Jesse watched him for a moment, eyes barely making out his features in the darkness. He tended to be the one to wake up first of the two of them. Jesse figured it was because he was used to waking up before dawn for his early shifts at the café. He let his gaze linger for a moment, enjoying the quiet softness of the morning.

A cold, wet nose pressed itself to the small of his back.

He jerked in surprise, turning to peer over his shoulder to see Huckleberry smiling at him from the floor, her tail wagging and paws dancing.

Right. The other reason he was used to getting up early.

Jesse pressed a soft kiss to Hanzo’s temple before gently rolling out of the bed, careful to leave the comforter over Hanzo’s sleeping frame. Huckleberry danced in delight when she realized Jesse was getting up, and he bent down to ruffle her ears with a quick kiss to her forehead.

“Come on then, let’s get you outside,” Jesse muttered fondly, pulling on his sweater from the night before. He opened the guest bedroom door and carefully navigated through his parent’s house, letting his eyes adjust enough to avoid bumping into wayward furniture.

He slipped on his boots and jacket at the door, deactivated the alarm system, and slipped outside with his pup leading the way. Once outside Huckleberry dashed through the snow, soft powder flying up behind her and sticking to her fur. She did her business almost as an afterthought and Jesse quickly ushered her back towards the house, taking care to brush off as much snow as possible before pushing her through the door.

Delighted with the attention, Huckleberry trotted into the house. She sniffed at a few plastic cups left on the low coffee table from last night’s party and nipped at some of the low branches on the tree before following Jesse into the kitchen.

“Hello there, little miss,” Jack’s gravelly voice cooed from the kitchen. He was dressed in comfortable sleep pants and an old threadbare t-shirt, leaning against the counter with a mug in his hand.

“You’re up early,” Jesse quipped, taking up the offer of some warm coffee. He had only been outside for a few minutes, but his fingers were tingling with cold.

“Heard the door open, figured I’d just get up,” Jack shrugged. Jesse winced a bit at that. He knew his dads were light sleepers and he didn’t like to disturb them in the mornings. “Don’t worry about it,” Jack went on, noticing the guilty look on his son’s face. “I like mornings.”

Jesse chuckled, pouring himself some fresh brew, “Oh, I know. Used to wake me up at the ass-crack of dawn to take me runnin’ with ya. Don’t know why I thought that that was a good idea.”

“That was a good week,” Jack chuckled with a sigh. “How are you, by the way? I didn’t get much of a chance to talk to you yesterday.”

“Good, good,” Jesse said, taking a sip of coffee. He thought back on the last few weeks since he’d last seen his family. “A lot’s happened but… yeah, things are good. I’m happy.”

Jack looked at him, his scarred face neutral and sleepy. After a moment he nodded, taking another sip of coffee and placing his empty mug in the sink behind him. “Well, the day’s not gonna wait for us. You gonna help me clean this place up?”

Jesse grumbled a bit, but tossed back the rest of his drink and went to follow his dad into the main room. The food had been packaged up and put away the night before, but they were all too exhausted to bother gathering the trash bags and cups after their guests left.

Fareeha had tried valiantly to stay awake for most of the night, but the traveling had caught up with her and she was found slumped fast asleep against her mother for a good hour or so before they made their way home.

Genji, who found a new love in spiked eggnog, had to be dragged out the door by Zenyatta with a promise to Hanzo that he would get home safe.

Angela had helped portion out some of the food for everyone to take some home with them, knowing they would likely be too tired to make their own food the next day. Gabriel took care to soak the dishes overnight so they would be easier to clean in the morning. It certainly made the morning clean-up easier.

It was only a matter of a half-hour before the rest of the living room was tidied. Jack handed him three full bags of trash with a little smirk, “Wanna take these out to the curb?”

“Not really, but I’ll do it,” Jesse mumbled, earning a hearty laugh and a light smack from his dad.

Jesse smiled. He enjoyed spending time with his dad like this. He knew he must have felt a bit left out at times, especially being unable to speak Spanish as well as he and his Papí. Jesse had noticed at a young age how his dad would watch the two of them talk, listening, but not able to participate like he wanted to, and the sad smile it would leave on his face.

Jesse always took care to include his dad in their Spanish conversations after that, and his Papí, sharp as a tack, took notice and did the same. Jesse loved both of his dads equally, and it was nice to be able to get some one-on-one time with each of them.

Trash properly tossed, Jesse trotted back to the house, shaking off the chill that clung to him. He found his dad lounging in the living room, a fresh fire lit in the hearth. Shaking off his boots, Jesse padded across the hardwood to slump in his Papí’s armchair with a sigh.

The crackling of the fire filled the space, lulling Jesse into a soft doze before a pair of large hands landed on his shoulders.

“Rise and shine, mijo!” Gabriel laughed, swooping down to plant a kiss on his son’s cheek. Jesse sputtered and futily tried to escape. “It’s Christmas! Go get that man of yours and let’s open up presents!”

“Ugh! Get offa me, I’m goin’!” Jesse grumbled, swatting at Gabriel’s hands as he stood up. Jack laughed from the sofa, accepting a kiss from his husband as he danced over.

Jesse chuckled, his Papí was always the most excited for Christmas. Even when he was young, it was always Gabriel who snuck into _his_ room to wake him up for presents and brunch.

The door to the guest bedroom was cracked open, enough that Jesse was a little surprised to find his boyfriend still sound asleep despite the noise from the living room. He had rolled over in his sleep so that the sheets were draped over his lower half, leaving his impressively broad back open to view. Jesse took a few precious moments to admire Hanzo’s sleeping form before padding over to his side, ready to swoop in with a good morning kiss.

Just as he bent down to greet his love good morning, a shaggy head popped up to lick at his face.

“Ugh! Berry!” Jesse yelped, glaring at the pup as she rested her chin on Hanzo’s waist. She offered him a canine smile and a wag of her tail for his trouble.

Hanzo gave a soft huff, pulling Huckleberry closer and burying his face in her soft fur. “Who dares wake the dragon?” He mumbled, voice rough with sleep.

“That’d be me,” Jesse chuckled, leaning over him to peck prickly kisses along his cheekbones. “It’s Christmas Eve and Papí wants to open presents.”

Hanzo frowned, shoulders bunching up against the tickling attention. “I thought presents were opened on Christmas day?”

“Yeah but we’ll be at my place tomorrow, remember?”

Hanzo grumbled and pressed a kiss to the top of Huckleberry’s head. “Fine. But I will require coffee, I am still tired from last night.”

“Already covered, sugar,” Jesse grinned, smacking one last, loud kiss to his boyfriend’s temple. “You freshen up, I’ll get your caffeine fix.”

He scrubbed his hand over Huckleberry’s head one last time before turning, only to have his arm caught in a firm grip. Jesse turned to see Hanzo turned towards him on the bed before he was tugged down for a proper kiss. “Merry Christmas Eve.”

Jesse felt like he was walking on air when he saw the pure affection in Hanzo’s eyes. “Merry Christmas Eve.”

=x=x=x=

Hanzo had quickly downed two mugs of coffee before he felt awake enough to indulge in presents. Unlike Jesse, he had changed into a fresh set of clothes before plopping on the far end of the couch.

Gabriel brought over the small pile of wrapped gifts, a wide smile of excitement on his face.

Hanzo offered his own first, a gift from both Shimada brothers to the Reyes-Morrison family.

“Are you serious!” Jack shouted, deep voice running high with excitement. He turned the box around for Gabriel to see. “Those little shits got me a little deep fryer!”

“It even has a build in timer and filtration system,” Hanzo pointed out, his hands gripped together to keep from fidgeting. “I know your fried chicken is legendary, so I hope you will find this useful.”

Jack smiled widely at him before clapping him on the shoulder. “Welcome to the family, son.”

Jesse made a choked noise and Gabriel laughed, loud and bright.

“Here,” Gabriel tossed a package at Hanzo.

Hanzo made quick work of the wrapping paper to find a thick binder inside. He opened it up to find dozens of pictures, files, and receipts. He looked up sharply, a question on his tongue he couldn’t begin to vocalize.

Gabriel nodded towards the binder, “That should be enough to help you and your brother make a solid case, without looking too incriminating on your part. Give that to your lawyer, have ‘em pick through what you’ll need. It should be a good handhold for ya.”

Swallowing tightly, Hanzo looked back down to the binder, feeling Jesse’s hand rubbing his arm next to him in a show of comfort. He took a deep breath, shut the binder with a click, and looked back up to the two men watching him from the couch. “Thank you,” he started, a raspy chuckle leaving him. “You are… rather terrifying.”

Gabriel grinned widely, “You’re making me blush.”

Jesse and Gabriel exchanged a few words in Spanish while Hanzo tucked away his gift, eyes unfocussed as he thought.

He snapped back to the present when Jack tossed a brand-new chew toy to Huckleberry, who showed it off to everyone with little grunts of happiness.

“And this is for you,” Jack said, tossing a flat box to Jesse.

“Woah!” Jesse sputtered as the box hit him in the chest. “Christ, what’s in here, a brick?”

Gabriel laughed, “Just open it.”

Inside was a gorgeous knife, large enough to fit comfortably in Jesse’s huge palm with an impressive, curved blade. “Oh wow…” Jesse turned it over in his hands, holding it up so Hanzo could admire it as well. “Is this antler?”

“Yup.”

“Shoot,” Jesse smiled at his parents. “Thanks guys!” He slid the blade back into it’s leather sheath, rolling it between his palms.

“You two gonna do presents at your place tomorrow?” Jack asked, grabbing up the wrapping paper and wadding it up in his hands.

“Yep,” Jesse grinned, wrapping an arm around Hanzo’s shoulders. “But you’ve got us for the rest of the day today.”

“Perfect,” Jack grinned.

The boys spent the rest of the day with Jesse’s parents, regaling over old war stories and pulling up albums of photos from their tablet. Hanzo was delighted, Jesse’s parents clearly adored him and loved to share all of his achievements from his younger years. Even their arguments held a blatant affection.

Hanzo reciprocated with stories of the mischief he and his brother got into in their younger years, recalling fond moments with his own parents before their passing.

The day passed with a sort of fuzzy softness, dotted with bright laughter and a fulfillment Hanzo hadn’t felt in a long while.

Jack eventually ushered everyone into the kitchen to help him prepare dinner, putting Jesse in charge of prepping the chicken, Gabriel on biscuits and veggies, and Hanzo on mashed potatoes. Jack effortlessly led his team, having Hanzo help him set up the new fryer while the potatoes boiled.

It was only a matter of an hour before they were gathered around the table, sinking their teeth into the best fried chicken Hanzo had ever eaten. As he passed the basket of biscuits across the table, he locked eyes with Jesse, his beaming smile stunning him for a moment.

Jesse’s smile softened, and he offered a cheeky wink in his direction.

A strong wave of emotion overtook him for a moment, a small thread of melancholy lacing his thoughts. He would never be able to share these moments with his own family, never be able to welcome his boyfriend to his parents’ table like Jesse had done for him. A heaviness settled in his chest at thought.

He reached over and grabbed his boyfriend’s hand, earning a small concerned frown and a tilt of his head. Hanzo just shook his head with a small smile, giving that warm hand a squeeze. He had his family in Genji, and judging by the kind looks his fathers were giving him, he found a welcome place among Jesse’s family as well.

Jesse’s palm was warm against his as he offered a reassuring squeeze in return. He wouldn’t dwell on impossibilities, but Hanzo new in his heart that his parents would be proud of him, of the new bonds he had made and his relationship with his brother.

“Thank you,” Hanzo said, glancing around the table, soft candlelight and bright eyes smiling back at him. “For this.”

He caught Jesse’s gaze once more.

_For everything._

=x=x=x=

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! I bet y'all were losin' hope for an update, and for that, I deeply apologize. These last few months have been crazy with the loss of my best kitty friend, as well as making some major life changes, including quitting my terrible job! 
> 
> Anyway, enough about me. I hope you enjoyed this (very) delayed installment! And yes, I am nearly finished with the last one and this project of mine will finally be wrapped up!
> 
> Thank you all for your patience, you are too kind. :)
> 
> [Fic Unedited.]
> 
>  
> 
> ***If you like what I write, you can [Support Me on Ko-fi!](https://ko-fi.com/S6S35W8B) :D


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